Thing Exoskeleton
Fellow Fantastic Four member Mr. Fantastic would develop an exo-suit for Ben to wear that resembled his previous mutated form and imitate his powers. The suit was highly durable, and although Richards had hoped that it would boost Ben's strength to the level of heroes like Luke Cage it in reality proved to be at least 90% as powerful as Ben in his Thing form. The "head" of the suit was removable from the main body. Ben would remove it via a zipper down the front which would remain hidden when done up. Likewise when the suit was being remove it would collapse as though it were made of cloth. Reed also installed a means of triggering the suit to become undone through controls hidden inside the suit so that Ben could take off the costume in situations where his hands were bound. The suit was also air-tight and able to resist the vacuum of space for a few minutes provided that the suits mouth was kept closed. Ben first used the exo-suit to stop temporary FF replacement Power Man from breaking the Puppet Master out of prison. He would wear the suit when he travelled back in time with the Fantastic Four to World War II to aid the Invaders in stopping Baron Zemo from utilizing a cylinder of Vibranium that was accidentally sent into the past, and later aiding the Liberty Legion in stopping Brain Drain and his Nazi operatives from using a second half of the cylinder to attack the United States before turning to his own time. Ben would also fight the New Man known as Gorr when his arrival on Earth would cause him to grow to gigantic size. Accompanying the restored Gorr and the Fantastic Four to Counter-Earth he would battle against the Destroyer armour, then a Herald of Galactus outside of the High Evolutionary's artificial world. The suit was able to withstand a direct blast from Galactus himself. When Ben and Reed were sent to the planet Mekka to see if the inhabitance of that would would be willing to sacrifice their world to save Counter-Earth from Galactus, he and Reed would be taken as prisoners by Mekka's ruler, Ben's old ally Torgo. It would be the internal release mechanism built into Ben's exo-suit that would allow him to escape his restraints and free Reed as well. Teleported back to Counter-Earth, Ben would battle Galactus directly, Galactus noticing something about Ben was different would blast him with cosmic rays, which (following the defeat of Galactus) would cause Ben to revert back to his mutated form. As he was wearing his exo-suit when this transformation happened, his growing body would end up destroying the suit. The exo-suit would be repaired (presumably by Reed Richards) and when Ben would lose his powers again he would use the suit to aid the Avengers in opposing the Deviant Ghaur's attempted invasion of New York. He would later wear it to travel into the realm of Set with Dr. Strange, Thor and Quasar, and later aid the Fantastic Four and Avengers in defeating Ghaur and his minion Llyra, foiling their plot to bring Set to Earth. During the Acts of Vengeance conspiracy, the Fantastic Four would be attacked by villains under the control of Dr. Doom while testifying to congress. Ben would dawn his exo-suit once more and battle the Super-Adaptoid and helping the Fantastic Four in stopping the attack. Later while investigating temporal anomalies on an island, Reed, Sue, Johnny and She-Thing would lose their powers, Ben would wear his exo-suit to defend them from dinosaurs brought to the present by the anomaly until the situation could be reversed. When appearing in public with the reformed villain Sandman to watch a game, Ben would wear the exo-suit. Ben would next wear the exosuit to aid SHIELD director Nick Fury on a mission into space to take back a satellite hijacked by Peter Lohan. During another period where Ben had his powers restored, then lost again, the exo-suit was modified to resemble a further mutated form that Ben once maintained for a while. In this modification Ben wore the suit to distract Namor long enough until his surprise birthday party was ready. Restored to it's original appearance, Ben would wear the exo-suit when welcoming Alex Power of the Power Pack to the Four Freedoms Plaza. Ben would wear the suit again to aid Alpha Flight in freeing their comrades who were under the control of Headlok. During the final battle, the suit would be destroyed in a fight against Sasquatch, one of the Alphans under Headlok's control. The suit would be repaired once more, and Ben would wear it in battle along side the Fantastic Four and the "New" Fantastic Four (a temporary team consisting of Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk and Ghost Rider) to battle the Mole Man. He would also wear the exo-suit to defender the Four Freedoms Plaza when it was attacked by the Presence; aiding the FF and the Guardians of the Galaxy in battling Korvac's ancestor Jaboa Murphy, and again when the Fantastic Four were being tested by the cosmically powered Kosmos and Kubik. Ben last wore the exo-suit in an attempt to try and help fellow teammate Sharon Ventura get used to her She-Thing form. However, when this proved to only annoy her more than help, Ben opted to abandon the suit and have his powers restored. Darla Deering The current user of the Thing Exoskeleton is Darla Deering a pop star and ex-girlfriend of Johnny Storm. When the team went away on a long mission each member chose a replacement all but Johnny, who at the last minute asked Darla to take his place, for which she agreed. Due to not having any powers she was given the Thing's old Exoskeleton which was modified by Dragon Man. She can access the armor via two rings dubbed the Thing Rings. | CurrentOwner = Darla Deering | PreviousOwners = Ben Grimm | Notes = | Trivia = | Links = }} Category:Battlesuits Category:Technology Category:Fantastic Four Equipment Category:Suits